All in a hard night's Work
by TheNooby
Summary: A quick oneshot loosely based off the episodes "Plankton!" and "The Graveyard Shift".


**All in a hard night's Work**

**by**

**The_Noob**

**10:45 PM. Bikini Bottom.**

It was the night shift at the Krusty Krab, which was odd, seeing how the restaurant usually closes at 6 in the afternoon. Of course, considering that Mr. Krabs nearly always wanted more money, he must have forced his two employees to stay later, possibly to compete with establishments of higher quality that served dinner well into the night. Of course, these ideas of his were the ones that almost never worked, since no one ever came to the place except for lunch. Yet, still, the lobster trap-shaped restaurant kept its lights on, and the two creatures within worked themselves to death. There were, as usual, only two people inside the Krusty Krab at this hour, since Mr. Krabs always left the place at the usual time, even when he made his employees stay the night.

The restaurant was silent, for the most part, behind the counter, something stirred, and the smell of frying grease permeated the air. Spongebob Squarepants, head (and only) fry-cook of the Krusty Krab, was the source of the action, seeing that he was convinced someone would walk in the door any minute and request his services at this hour.

"La la lee loodie-la!" He sang merrily as he toiled over the hot grill, which adorned a room full of memorabilia from Mr. Krabs' days in the Navy, and all the things Spongebob needed to do his job. In the deep fryer were some coral bits and seaweed fries being prepared, and the freezer was full of patties. Bottles of mixed condiments were stacked neatly on a shelf; from behind these large tubs, there was movement. The shadowed, tiny figure snuck towards the grill, quickly jumping and disappearing from view. The workaholic sponge wouldn't have noticed anyways: He was very, very absorbed into his work, so much as to not notice anything _but_ what he was working on.

The patty the yellow sponge had been flipping landed on the grill. "Aww tartar sauce!" The fry cook yelled, "2 inches off center! This will not do!" He flipped it again, revealing someone clinging to the bottom. The green speck of plankton (named Plankton) peeled himself off the burger and ran off with it, cackling devilishly. "HUOWH! It's Plankton! And he's making off with the Krabby Patty Secret Formula!"

The yellow creature ran to the lifeboat-shaped counter of the restaurant, attempting to alert the cashier, Squidward. "SQUIDWARD!" Spongebob yelled as Plankton escaped the restaurant, awakening the sleeping squid.

"Huhwah?" Squidward said, having been harshly woken from his ten-hour-long nap at the cash register, for there had been no customers at the restaurant since noon, other than Patrick Star, of course, who had bought a sandwich and some coral bits for his 3 AM snack, as usual. The turquoise squid pulled the _Fancy Culture News_ magazine off his forehead (which had been positioned as so to block his eyes), and gritted his teeth. "_**What now**_, Spongebob?" He growled, with much more emotion than usual, "Did you get your hand stuck in a bottle of-"

"NO! NO! NOT THAT! I DID THAT LAST TUESDAY! PLANKTON HAS THE KRABBY PATTY FORMULA! MR. KRABS WILL KILL US IF HE FINDS OUT THAT THE SACRED FORMULA HAS BEEN TAKEN!" Spongebob screamed, interrupting his friend.

"Oh my, the formula has been stolen!" Squidward replied, sarcastically feigning worry, "Whatever shall we do?"

Spongebob had just the answer. He dragged Squidward from the counter and pulled him by his arm all the way to the Chum Bucket, the squid's face was painfully scraped and grated against the pavement.

Spongebob surveyed the enemy building that stood before him, a stylized bucket-like fortress adorned with metal sheets held together with large rivets, and a Herculean hand holding the 'bucket'. A large neon sign flashed in front of the building, causing it to stand out against the night sky.

Spongebob quickly entered the rival restaurant, running through the cold, steely halls (which smelled like rotting, ground up fish, the main ingredient in Plankton's dish of choice, Chum), towing Squidward behind him (whose face was becoming rather friendly with the hard ground now).

After ten minutes of long running, our heroic sponge came to Plankton's evil laboratory, where the diabolical green speck was preparing a large machine to extract the chemical compound of the secret formula.

"Well, well, well, Spongebob. I see you've come to take the secret formula from me. Well… No more! It's been too damn long that I've had to watch failed attempt after failed attempt to steal that formula! It's over, Spongey!" Plankton said as he took out a ray gun and attacked Spongebob with it.

Of course, it only took a few seconds for Spongebob to unsheathe his spatula, directing the beam of light back into Plankton's face, causing the evil bacterium to explode, along with the diabolical machine, sending the imprisoned Krabby Patty back into Spongebob's hands.

"Now, now there, girl, it's alright," Spongebob cooed, "Let's take you back to the Krusty Krab." The sponge looked at his comrade, who was laying face-down on the floor, and spoke to him, "Hey there, silly pants, get up!"

Squidward sighed, "Lemme have just a few days for beauty sleep." He mumbled painfully, seeing that his face had been turned into hamburger meat.

"Alright, then." Spongebob said as he ran out quickly, through the dark streets, and back to the Krusty Krab, zooming as quickly as he could. After all, he thought, the patties on the grill must be burnt by now. Of course, he was never able to make it to the Krusty Krab, for he had been ran over by Mr. Krabs' car, spraying his cubed yellow body parts across the road.

The bright red crab walked into his restaurant. "Har har har!" He chuckled, looking around for his employees, "Well, well, well," He glowered, quite angered at their absence, "I assume I'll have to fire the two of 'em! I always knew them two slackers would get their sorry asses put on the street one day."

As soon as he finished speaking, the patty Spongebob had saved with his life flew through the double doors, and toppled over the frying oil, which was boiling hot, setting the Krusty Krab on fire, and killing everyone in Bikini Bottom.

**FIN**


End file.
